| Each new study of home schooling statistics and | | | | number increased again in 2003, to over one |
| home schooling facts reveals that Americans are | | | | million children, according to the National Center |
| increasingly opting to keep their children out of | | | | for Education Statistics National Household |
| the mainstream educational system. While there | | | | Education (NHES). NHES compiled data showing |
| have always been families who chose to keep | | | | that in 2007, over 1.5 million children in the U.S. |
| their children at home, a much more pronounced | | | | were home schooled. |
| rate of children being homeschooled has been on | | | | To clarify, these home schooling statistics do not |
| the rise since the 1970s. One of the most | | | | include children who were homebound for |
| compelling reasons that parents give for wanting | | | | temporary illness. About twenty percent of home |
| to keep their school age children away from | | | | schooled children are also enrolled in an outside |
| schools, especially public schools, is due to the | | | | school, whether private or public, but their |
| decline in student behavior, e.g. violence and the | | | | attendance at these outside schools generally |
| prevalence of drugs at schools. Teachers are no | | | | amount to less than twenty-five hours per week. |
| longer willing or able to control violent outbursts of | | | | When surveyed, parents stated that their |
| children due to threats of disciplinary actions, law | | | | strongest reasons for homeschooling their children |
| suits, and without question - threats to their own | | | | were because they were dissatisfied or had |
| personal safety. In many inner cities, guards with | | | | concerns with the following: |
| metal detectors are stationed at school entrances | | | | - Religious or moral instruction 36% |
| - checking students for weapons and sometimes | | | | - School environment 21% |
| even drugs. Furthermore, parents feel that | | | | - Academic instruction 17% |
| teachers no longer hold a higher moral authority in | | | | - Other 26% |
| the classroom. It is not uncommon for teachers | | | | According to home schooling statistics and |
| to bring their personal life preferences into the | | | | gathered by the HSLDA, parents who choose to |
| classroom, which at times are not in sync with | | | | keep their children out of traditional educational |
| family morals or values. Often, politics enters the | | | | institutions generally have more education than |
| classroom, where teachers sometimes use their | | | | those parents who do not. Eighty-eighty percent |
| position to indoctrinate students with their own | | | | of parents who choose to do so have attended |
| beliefs. Many blame the turmoil of America's | | | | college, with twenty-four percent of these |
| 1960s antiestablishment movements for paving | | | | households comprising of at least one parent who |
| the way towards the prevalent anarchy in | | | | was a certified teacher. Additionally, families who |
| classrooms today. | | | | choose not to send their children to school, on |
| According to home schooling statistics put out by | | | | average, have a higher median income than |
| the Home School Legal Defense Association | | | | families who do. Home schooling statistics also |
| (HSLDA), it is estimated that the annual rate of | | | | show that most home schooled children come |
| growth of the number of children being | | | | from families with three or more children. Not |
| homeschooled in the U.S. is between 7% to 15%. | | | | surprisingly, homeschooled children generally watch |
| Reports from 1999 determined that | | | | far less television than children who attend |
| approximately 850,000 American children were | | | | traditional school out of the home. |
| being home schooled by at least one parent. This | | | | |